What a field day for the heatA thousand people in the streetSinging songs and carrying signsMostly saying, "hooray for our side"

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Linkee-poo asks itself, well, how did I get here

How to finish (writing) what you start, a five-step plan. It could be two steps, 1) focus on what you write, 2) set goals and meet them. But then, Ali Like breaks it down a little more. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Ever wonder what American English sounds like to a non-English speaker? Here's a youtube video where an Italian singer does American Gibberish as lyrics. (Pointed to by John)

Here's a fun new game (well, at least for me), Kern Type. Kerning is adjusting spacing between individual letters to create a pleasing look (tracking is adjusting whole lines of text for fit). Now, I've been playing the professional home version of this game for, well, over 2 decades now. But this is a great tool to help people (students, and well, sometimes I score less than 70%, so maybe me as well) learn how to kern (it's not that easy). Here's a quick tip, think of the space between the letters as filled with water. You're goal is to make the volume of water the same between all the letters. Have fun. And yeah, once you start, it's addictive. However, avoid kerning you body text (unless it's an egregious example). That way lies madness.

Holy fuck, the government Topeka, KS, just said "Not my yob" when it comes to domestic violence cases. Really? It's killing my budget to pay for that Meth Lab clean up, but we're still going to go after the bastards anyway. You can say, "Not our jurisdiction" when being asked to arrest people outside of your jurisdiction, but you don't say, "We won't pay for it," when it is inside your borders. Dear Topeka, your government is a bunch of fuck'tards. Might want to see to that.

An essay on Elizabeth Warren and George Will. When you get halfway through just keep in mind that what EJ Dionne is saying that if this were the early 80s, Elizabeth Warren could have just as well been a conservative then. That's how far to the right the social conservatives (and their latest puppet vehicle, the Tea Party) have dragged us. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Todd, I thought Bob's input was great. And it's something that I think will separate the real self/indie-publishers from the people who got suckered in. As he pretty much states, it's work. And you should approach it as such. It's continuing to evolve, and you should prepare and adapt for that (which is a continual process). I think those two points are often lost in the "make more royalties by self-publishing" arguments.

Bob, no worries. I'm glad Tobias linked to you (I believe in a tweet of his, but it's been more than 24 hours and my mind isn't what it used to be). Thanks for giving us your thoughts.

About Me

I am a writer of Fantasy, Horror, and Science Fiction. Here you can find some of my thoughts about writing, politics, society, dreams, and anything that comes into my head. Sometimes I drop a Story Bone or two. And then there is the tweeting.

The opinions expressed on this blog are my own and should not be considered the opinions of my employers or clients.

Da Rules

Anything put in a post with the title "Story Bone" is up for grabs. If it sets off a story bomb in your head, go for it. I don't claim any right except to maybe write my own story based on the bone. I haven't researched the bones to make sure I'm not trodding on somebody else's toes so use at your own risk. Think of these as free ideas.

Freed Scribblings

The Company of Ravens - First Chapter This is the story that nearly killed me and forced me to start writing down these things in my head. It's still a draft. After innumeral edits this is still at the point I realized I needed more skills to tell the story, and also the point where I realized I could do this.

The Dead Are Busy Released from the trunk in celebration of the first International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day, April 23, 2007.

Storming Heaven This was the first short story I wrote that I felt was ready for publication. Released from the trunk in celebration of the second International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day, April 23, 2008.